Already Gone
by Tzimisce
Summary: When Lacus ends their engagement, someone unexpected helps Athrun get a new perspective on his priorities in life. Non-Cannon. No slash. Set to the Eagles song 'Already Gone'.


**Authors Note**: I'm aware that their are many ways to spell the character's names, but I'm using the spelling that I found at _Gundam Official_, if it bothers you, deal, but I've looked around, and to me these are the closest spellings to how the names sound. Also I don't remember what rank Athrun is so I'll make him a Private 1st Class. The songfic is from Athrun's point of view, his thoughts are bold and song lyrics are italicized. This has absolutely no connection with the official timeline, but I didn't know that when I wrote it as I hadn't seen all of SEED yet. Also when I wrote it I was running off the idea that la Creuset was more of a Char clone and didn't have any sort of disfigurement. If this fic were to fit in somewhere it's sometime after the Archangel's decent to Earth. I'm aware that they are somewhere OOC but the idea behind part of this is growth as a person, so they can't remain exactly as they were to start or I've accomplished nothing. Also I'm not sure what territories ZAFT controls on Earth but for the sake of this songfic they have control of the Caribbean. Oh, a warning their is some mild language, and as always I don't own Gundam SEED nor do I own _Already Gone_ by the Eagles. So without any more of my chatter….

* * *

Well I heard some people talkin' just the other day And they said you were gonna put me on the shelf

I was seated unaccompanied at my usual table in the blue windowless Mess Hall. The le Creuset team was back in Aprilius City, and there were noisy conversations at every nearby table. Apparently the gossip was juicy today because whatever it was it was spreading like wildfire.

"Athrun Zala please report to the base Commanders office immediately." A female voice said over the intercom. **Great what have those three got me into now? **I quickly glanced around for any sign of Yzak, Dearka, or Nicol for if they had framed me for something, they would surely be around to watch me get into trouble for it. Otherwise it was no fun. The three seemed eternally amused at getting themselves into trouble and attempting to make me take the fall for it. Luckily, Commander le Creuset had caught them at their devious acts on quite a few occasions and had quickly learned that I wasn't feigning innocence when I said I had no clue something had happened. I didn't see any of them lurking around so I chugged the last of my soda, before I dropped my tray off at the receptacle then began toward the elevator that would take me up to the second floor.

I paused in front of the Commanders' office to straiten my uniform. **I wonder why I'm supposed to report to him rather then Commander le Creuset?** The door opened, and I entered his office and saluted.

"Private 1st Class Zala reporting, sir." He was silhouetted in front of the window and had his back turned. **Has something happened? Something to dad, or maybe Lacus? I know it's not my fault; I haven't been off base hardly at all.** Of course that wasn't how I wanted things to be, I just hadn't been able to find any time that I could take off. It was really burning me that I was in Aprilius City and couldn't get time off long enough to go visit Lacus even for a few hours.

"Ah, Private Zala" he turned around. "Sit, please, you aren't in trouble—theirs no need to look so worried."

"Yes sir." I slid into the seat on my left; he likewise sat at his desk.

"Athrun, if I can call you that since this really isn't a military matter, I'm afraid I'm not sure how to tell you this because I've never been in this situation before."

That caused my blood to run ice water, immediately my thoughts went to my father. I just knew that something horrible had happened to him. That's why I had been called in here—they would tell family before it went public. And that explained the buzz of gossip earlier. Whoever had been manning the communications tower couldn't keep their mouth shut. "My father—what happened?"

"Nothing that I'm aware of Athrun, is their something I should know?"  
"No sir, I just thought-"

"No, I'm not here to deliver bad news—of that sort anyway."

"Pardon?"

"As I said, I'm afraid I'm not quite sure how to word this. This is an um… delicate situation."

"What is it then?" This beating around the bush was driving me crazy. **What the hell was so damn important? And why the hell wasn't le Creuset here?** It wasn't customary for me to have to deal with any other Commander then my own unless it was a special situation, and at the moment the only special situation was the fuse of my temper getting shorter and shorter. Maybe that's what this was about— Commander le Creuset. Maybe he had been in a car wreck or something that even Coordinators can't always avoid. I hadn't seen him come in last night, but then again there were a lot of entrances and exits to the barracks.

"It's about Ms. Clyne."

"About Lacus? What's happened? Is she ok?"

"Physically Ms. Clyne is fine but it's about the… arrangement, between the two of you."

"About our marriage?"

"Yes"

"What about it?"  
"I'm afraid that Counselman Clyne has sent this." He handed a piece of paper across the desk. I scanned it, opening blah blah blah, "Athrun, I'm well aware of your exemplary military performance, and I thank you on fighting to protect your fellow coordinators, Lacus and myself included. But I'm afraid that Lacus has begun to believe, quite zealously, that she cannot marry and live with someone who has worked under Commander in Chief Zala and endorses his ideals. Therefore, as per her request, I'm canceling the engagement between the two of you."

I sat in shock, it wasn't Siegel Clyne that was calling off the engagement between Lacus and myself; it was Lacus rejecting me of her own accord. She was just using her father as a shield.

"I'm sorry Athrun, from what I gather you were quite fond of the girl."

I stood, "Sir, permission to leave?"

"Of course Zala"

But let me tell you I've got some new for you

_And you'll soon find out it's true_

And then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself

I ran back to my quarters as fast as I could, I locked the door behind me and re-read the letter hoping to see some flaw that proved that this was some sick twisted joke, or anything to discredit it. But I found none. I sank to the floor, "Why Lacus? Why?" I asked the paper. "Why are you doing this? For whom did you leave me for?"

I leapt across my room and grabbed paper from the desk and began to furiously scribble down thoughts for my return letter. It would be a letter that probably would ruffle not only the Clynes' feathers, but my fathers as well. I was going to give Lacus a piece of my mind, since she had seemed so inclined to tell me her true feelings I couldn't insult her by giving her anything less then my own.

Cause I'm already gone

_And I feel strong _

_I will sing this victory song_

I gathered up the three-paged product of my hour's labor, and headed directly for Commander le Creuset's office. I was torn on if I should send it or not. The letter had been written out of anger, and you don't always use the best of judgment when you're angry. The Commander was the only person I could think of that could actually give me advice that would be of any use.

I paused in front of the door to his office, waiting for it to open, but nothing happened. I pushed the intercom button, "Commander, it's Private Zala, may I speak to you sir?" I was given no reply. **He may not be in.** I started down the hall intent on going to his quarters. If it had been anything else I would have waited, but this was of the utmost importance.

"Athrun were you looking for me?" I heard someone yell from behind me, I immediately recognized the voice as the Commander. I spun around; he was walking around the corner putting on his gloves.

"Yes Commander, I have some— things I wanted to discuss with you."

"If it would be alright with you, I would prefer to go off base, I've yet to receive any leave."

"That wouldn't bother me at all, sir"

Less then half an hour later we found ourselves at a small outdoor café being served coffee. The out of the way place had been the Commanders idea, I hadn't the slightest idea that this place existed until I had parked.

"Now Athrun what were you wanting to discuss?"  
"Well sir, earlier this morning I was summoned to the base Commanders office." I proceeded to explain the letter I had received form Siegel Clyne about the breaking of the engagement between Lacus and myself. The Commander just sat across from me, listening very intently, sporadically sipping his coffee. "So I wrote this as my response." I surrendered the paper over to him. I watched him read my handiwork. I was tense; the Commander hadn't said one positive or negative thing about my current predicament. He sat the paper down and took another sip of his coffee before he steepled his fingers and looked up at me. I could tell he was deliberating on what he should say.

"Athrun, I was assigned a new mission. Intelligence wants me to go undercover as an Earth Alliance soldier."

"Sir?" **What the hell? Where did that come from? What does that have to do with anything I just said?**  
"Well I'm allowed to choose a small team to go with me, and in your current circumstances I thought that I would offer the opportunity to come along."

"I don't know sir, do you think it wise for me to leave with all of this is happening?"  
"Do you really think that your presence here will change anything? From what I read, unless you become a spineless twit around her, I highly doubt your going to change your mind, so what good will your presence here be able to do… And will not being here only remind you of her? Athrun, you know she's not going anywhere, do you really want to be haunted by the menace of memory?"  
"No sir, not really."  
"Then give me one good reason why you can't come?"

"I have none"

"Then I can count on you as a pilot Athrun?"

"Yes sir, if it flies, I can pilot it."

"Exactly what I wanted to hear"  
In less than 48 hours I found myself, and a Lieutenant Roark, piloting a shuttle from Aprilius City destined to land on Earth. Commander le Creuset was briefing us as to our primary and secondary directives, en route.

The letter that you wrote me, made me stop and wonder why

_But I guess you felt like you had to set things right_

It was three months into our mission, soon it would be over, but once every two weeks we went into the nearby town and made contact with undercover ZAFT agents. This particular meeting was to take place in a bookstore. Lt. Roark went to the end of the aisle while I went to the other, as to be lookouts. The Commander 'dropped' a book to pass the encrypted disk to the agent, the agent picked up the book and handed it back to le Creuset, using the old magician's slight of hand trick to safely tuck the disk into his sleeve. He turned and headed toward the checkout, but not before 'accidentally' bumping into me. I felt him slip a disk in my jacket pocket before he apologized and was on his way.

I didn't even acknowledge the disk in my pocket the whole way back to the base, although I couldn't quit thinking about it. The moment we set foot on the base I headed to my quarters to access the disk. It was a word document, encrypted no doubt. I was slightly surprised; when my father sent the one communiqué to me it had been a 75 KB document. This one was only 22 KB, which meant it probably wasn't over a page long. I decrypted the document then accessed the file, cursing the slow Earth Alliance computers the whole time.

Athrun,

No doubt you left Aprilius city because I offended you, and I apologize. I wanted to tell you face to face but I hadn't seen you and I was unsure if you were, for some reason, upset with me, or if you even still on the PLANT. So I had father send the letter knowing it would reach you—eventually.

I regret that father's words were so harsh but at least they were direct, as to not leave any doubt in your mind that we are finished. I hate having to write that Athrun, you have shown me nothing but kindness and blessed me with many friends to keep me company. But I will not marry someone who agrees and supports Councilman Zala's ideals. Even if he is your father you don't always have to agree with him.

I only sent this as to show my regret for the harshness of fathers letter and to tell you that my decision was not a hasty one, I have spent much time contemplating every possible outcome, and I must tell you that I cannot—nay will not spend the rest of my life unhappy in my own home.

For my own selfness I ask your forgiveness. I know that my words have caused much pain and that there is nothing that I can do to take any of it back. But should you ever need me for anything Athrun, whether that be just to have someone to talk to, or if you need a place to stay you can always come to me.

I call myself lucky that I have had the opportunity to get to know you and count you among my friends and I hope that when this war ends that we can still be on good terms. I would hate to loose someone like you because of my own belligerence.

Wishing you the best in all your endeavors.

Lacus Clyne

_Just remember this, my girl, when you look up in the sky_

_You can see the stars and still not see the light (that's right)_

I leaned back from my desk and started blankly at the monitor. **Did I do the right thing? Did I do the right thing by running? Or does that make me a coward? Does it make me someone who's afraid of a little social slap in the face? But the Commander had been right, staying would have only caused more pain for us both— me for having to see her, and her for having to see me moping around. At least this way I don't get the chance to think about it too much. They keep me busy enough I don't get to do a whole lot at all besides work. They pay better then ZAFT though; I'll give them that.**

I walked to the window, the window with the view of the base—not of space. **No, I did the right thing. I didn't go beg for her to take me back, I accepted her wishes and went on with my life. In the long run this will prove to be better for me. Now I have one less person to worry about which leave more time to do the things I want to do. **

I stared at the glimmering night sky.** How can you hope to be your father's successor if you continue to blind yourself to the fact that not everybody will worship you like a princess, and not everybody is cut out for peace. Even Coordinators have limits, but how will you ever know your limits without testing yourself? I know my limits; you yet don't know how weak or strong you may be. Lacus, you may be able to see the big picture—but you will never be able to understand it. **

_And I'm already gone_

_And I'm feelin' strong_

_I will sing this victory song_

"That was the final one sir" Roark announced jogging down the deserted basement hall.

"Good, timers set to fifteen minutes?"  
"Yes sir"

"Then we should be leaving"

The three of us walked as calmly as three people who knew a base was going to blow up in less then fifteen minutes could. We all piled into the Jeep that we took to town every Friday night. I drove, le Creuset sat shotgun, and normally Roark would hover between the backseat and reaching across the consol to get to the radio, tonight as always I drove and le Creuset sat shotgun, but the impending detonation of the base sobered the normally sickeningly carefree Roark. None of us spoke as I started the Jeep and headed for the sentry checkpoint. It wouldn't have been so hard to do had we only been on base a short time, but we had originally been set to gather more information on the G weapon but in order to procure the proper security clearance it meant that we had to stay on base for some time. So now we would be killing people that we knew—even if we didn't like them, we still knew them, and that made setting the charges under the compound more difficult. I came to a stop as the guard came to the side of the road to greet us.

"Runnin' off into town again boys?"

"Yes" le Creuset answered quickly. I glanced at the clock—9 minutes left. We had definitely taken our sweet time getting out of there without trying to draw attention to ourselves.

"Feelin' alright their C.J.?" C.J. was Roark's cover. I glanced into the back seat.

"Yea, feelin' fine, you watchin' the game?"

"No, the damn cable line doesn't come to the sentry post, have to listen to it on radio"

"That's a shame, from what was going on in the break room sounds like a close game." Eight minutes left. We had chosen tonight because of the soccer game—knowing it would be less likely to run into someone roaming the halls.

"Yea, I reckon the Knights will be headin' on to the Semi-Finals."

"Who my bets on"  
"Say, how come you three aren't watchin' the game?"  
"Let's just say things in the break room are gonna get ugly—no matter who wins or looses." I looked over at le Creuset— this was taking to long. We weren't going to have enough time to get to safe distance if these two didn't shut up soon. I could tell the same thought was running though his head.

The sentry snickered. "Why am I not surprised?"  
"Yea, can't hardly hear the game over all their ruckus so these two and I decided that it might be a little quieter at the bar in town."

"Probably safer if nothing else, I'll get the gate, give me a second." The guard opened the gate and I sped off in a hurry.

The rough dirt road into town skirted a forest about five miles from the base. I didn't get off the gas till we topped the hill and the forest was in sight. Only seconds after trees started whizzing by was their an ear shattering "THOOOMMM" as our bombs detonated which set off a chain reaction due to the mobile suits that were housed at the base. The skyline to our left seemed to bleed as we sped off to our rendezvous with a ZAFT helicopter that would take us away from the place that would soon be overrun by Earth Alliance forces.

_Well I know it wasn't you who held me down_

_Heaven knows it wasn't you who set me free_

_So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains_

_And we never even know we have the key_

It would soon be five months to the day that Lacus had broken our engagement, and in honesty I couldn't have been happier. After our annihilation of the Earth Alliance base, the helicopters had taken us to an island in the Caribbean that had some very… exquisite scenery, if you know what I mean. And I knew that I wouldn't be here had she not had such a problem with my father—of course part of it was due to le Creuset's prompting. I think that le Creuset had predicted that after we finished the Earth Alliance base we would be treated to a long vacation, for he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Roark had returned to space, we had hardly arrived when he had been notified that his mother's illness had gotten worse and so he opted to return home. So now it was just the Commander and myself, but I had found that he wasn't always quite as uptight as he had seemed.

Our hotel had beachfront property and I had been more then shocked to discover that Commander le Creuset could surf, so during our stay he had taught me how to as well. I also found that he couldn't sit still for he was always out hiking in the tropical forests, rock climbing, rappelling, parasailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing, and had managed to make me guilty on all of the above charges as well. I never would have done any of that on my own, but he challenged me to break out of the box and experience life. And even against my most bullheaded resistance the silver-tongued Commander had also managed to talk me into going bungee jumping and skydiving with him. You would think that he would want a relaxing vacation, that he would get all the thrills one person could ever want from being in a combat situation as a mobile suit pilot. When I had asked him about this he merely smiled and said 'that's why I wanted to become a pilot—the adrenaline rush.' He was the very epitome of a thrill seeker.

But those were the thrills he sought by day, by night he was an entirely different animal. I spent countless nights amazed at how easily he could have any girl in a club eating out of his hand in the span of fifteen minutes. I know— I timed him. He put James Bond to shame. But since I had been engaged to Lacus most of my life, girls hadn't held the interest that they did for people like him. When le Creuset, or Rau should I say since he had forbidden me to call him Commander or le Creuset while we were on vacation, found that I lacked any knowledge of how to flirt. He had taken it upon himself to tutor me in the ancient art of picking up chicks. He saw to it that I broadened my horizons during the month of downtime we had received.

As had become custom during that month we would meet in the hotel's restaurant on the veranda for breakfast every morning about ten. So I bounded down the last of the stars and glanced around for any blonde hair before realizing that I had finally beaten him down. In all the time we had been here, no matter how late he had stayed up he managed to beat me down to breakfast every day. I did a little victory dance in my head before looking for an empty table.

"Late again I see." Someone said from behind me, I jumped.

"Rau… No I was here before you today!"

He walked off to our right and sat down at a table that already had drinks waiting on it. "I took the liberty of ordering your drink for you… apple juice, with a cup of coffee after you eat, am I correct?"

I flopped into my seat. "Yea"

The waiter that had served us almost every morning walked up a few minutes after we sat down, "I know this isn't my place, but may I ask the two of you a question?"

I glanced up at Rau; he shrugged his shoulders, "Sure"

"How are the two of you related? You don't look enough alike to be brothers, but you two act to much alike to not be related."

"Urm…" I was in shock. **Me related to him? That's about as likely as me having a Natural for a sibling. ** "We're not" Rau managed to spit out. I had never seen him so inarticulate.

"My mistake, sir. I'm sorry if I've offended either of you."

"No, it's no problem" I said looking up at the rather now sheepish waiter. Rau nodded his assent.

I spent much of the rest of the day contemplating why the waiter would ask such a thing. **I have dark hair, he's a blonde, I have blue eyes he has green.** I had found that out when our mission had begun, for the Earth Alliance wouldn't have allowed him to wear his mask. He had made me swear that when we returned to Aprilius City that we would ignore that little fact. The more I thought about it the clearer it became. In the time I had gotten to know him I had begun to think of Rau like a big brother.

In almost all of father's beliefs, Rau had pointed out a flaw. And he had challenged me to make my own. I had never had much of a problem with my parents but I feared that when I returned to my parents the evidence of Rau's influence would be evident. But in all of the time that I had been a pilot and on my own before that, I had never felt quite as unrestricted and independent as I did when we packed our bags and headed back into space.

_But me, I'm already gone_

_And I'm feelin' strong_

_I will sing this victory song_

'_Cause I'm already gone_

A shuttle picked us up when we had hardly exited Earth space, and had rendezvoused with a supply ship that we would be taking back to the PLANT. We found ourselves staring at our home PLANT in an almost unnaturally short about of time. The trip and the docking procedures had gone on without incident. The trip back had been quiet, as the two of us had been the only crew of the supply ship.

"Athrun, what happened on Earth, stays on Earth. No one is to know about the mission we were on, and they are certainly not to know of our… break… is that understood?"

"Yes, sir"

"Good" Rau glanced over his shoulder at me as we unbuckled our harnesses to make our way to the exit. "And I didn't even have to remind you about rank."

"Course not sir"

He stopped in front of the airlock. "Don't think that you can't have fun off Earth, Athrun, when we get some downtime again, I'll have to show you how to enjoy PLANT life as well."

"I'll look forward to it Commander." He smirked as he pushed off the wall and headed out into the docking bay.

As enjoyable as Earth had been I was happy to return to my quarters. I threw my bags down and glanced around my room. I hadn't seen Yzak, Dearka, or Nicol since we had returned, and I smelled a rat. They were up to something; good fun to them, bad and ugly for me, it was obvious that they had something in the works. I searched around my room, expecting to find some sort of booby trap but there was none. It was exactly like I had left it. Down to the couple of tee shirts I had thrown on the floor in my initial rush to pack. I sat down on my bed and looked around. It didn't add up. **There has to be something, there has to be! I'm just overlooking it.** I looked over on my desk and I noticed something. It was a picture. It was a picture of Lacus, the reason that I had left my room in shambles. I walked across the room and slammed the frame down.

"I'm done with you! Leave me alone!" I unlatched the back of the picture frame and took the picture out. "Why must you haunt me so?" I grabbed the lighter out of my desk drawer and proceeded to burn the picture and throw the ashes in the trash, before putting the back on the picture frame and setting it back up on my desk. **And until I find someone worthy of sitting there, that's how it will stay. **

_Yes, I'm already gone_

_And I'm feelin' strong_

_I will sing this victory song_

The Commander had kept his promise to 'teach' me how to enjoy PLANT life. He showed me that whereas Earth has natural wonders, PLANT'S have technological wonders. Rau had talked me into buying my own motorcycle so any free moment I got, with or without him along, I could be found zipping around in the streets. It was one Saturday afternoon I was burning time before Rau was going to meet me for a little illegal racing. So I stopped and decided to get something to drink and to cool my heels. I quickly grew bored of 'cooling my heels' and found myself engrossed in people watching. Sitting there trying to figure out what they were doing, where they were going, where they'd come from, all from looking at them proved to be quite an interesting past time. I didn't realize Rau had arrived until I saw him sauntering up to me.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he began as he sat his glistening black helmet down on the white tablecloth and pulled out a chair. "But I had to get some paperwork done, seems we'll be shipping out late next week."

"Really?" he put his feet up on the table, and leaned back on the rear chair legs. I haven't the slightest clue how he managed to keep himself balanced, because I had almost landed on my butt earlier, much less balancing with my feet on the table.

"Yep"

"Good, as much as I like being home, I'm getting a bit bored with this place."

He laughed, "Seems like I've worn off on you more then you know"

"Yea, guess so."

"Athrun may I ask something?"  
"Course"

"Are you over her?"  
"Over who?"  
"Ms. Clyne"

"Oh… Yea I think so, why do you ask?"  
"I could have sworn I saw her limo when I was on my way here."

"Where at?"  
"Parked about five streets back" he gestured back behind him, and almost lost his balance. **I would pay to see him do that sober.**

"Hm, could have been her, aren't their a couple of upscale clothing shops on that street?"  
"I don't know, you know how much I care about fashion"

I laughed this time. Here he was in immaculate black racing leathers, which were undoubtedly custom made since he had taken me to have mine made and the employee's seemed to know him quite well, saying that he didn't know or care about fashion. "Right, anything you say"

"Oh shut up"

"Make me"  
"I'm warning you Zala" his words may have said for me to watch my tongue but his voice didn't. He was just joking around.

"We're off duty, so bite me"  
He suddenly kicked his feet off of the table and leaned forward on his elbows. "You shouldn't say things like that… you never know what might happen."  
"Yea right, you've watched way to many vampire movies"

He smiled, "So I enjoy vampire movies what of it?"  
I stood if we were going to get any riding in, one of us would have to take the initiative to get off of our ass. "Kinky old bastard" I mumbled as I walked past him.

He stood to follow, "Innocent little cherub"

"Pervert"

"Infant"

"Cheater"

"Toddler"

"Two timer" he grabbed my shoulder right before I was about to cross the street and hauled me back onto the sidewalk.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to look before you cross the street?"  
"There was nothin' coming!" A car flew past. I looked down embarrassed.

"Let's see in light of your recent suicide attempt…. Idiot"

"Whoremonger"

"Peon"

"Lecher"

"Natural"

"Hey!" I turned around, actually offended. He just walked past trying to hold back a smile. I stood there a minute, trying to think up something that would be just as insulting but nothing came.

"You coming?" he called back as he straddled his black sportbike. **What's up with his obsession with black anyway?**

"Yea" I jogged a few steps to my baby. The picture frame in my quarters was no longer empty; it now proudly displayed a picture of my blue sportbike right after I had finished an intense six-hour detail job on it. I was about to put on my helmet when something caught my eye, a face in the crowd, one that I knew. I sat up straighter and bobbed around trying to see if it was her or not. Finally I got a good look. Lacus was walking down the other side of the street oblivious to that fact that I was sitting within fifty feet of her. Rau started his bike and revved the engine a few times, trying to get me to hurry. That caused Lacus to notice, she looked over at Rau, although not knowing it was he, with a look of pure distain on her face. Then she noticed me.

"Athrun?" she called shocked. **Do I respond? **Rau revved the engine again. I bowed my head for a second, then pulled on the helmet and started my bike. Lacus by this time had crossed the street. **Damn, I guess she wants to talk. **Out of my peripheral vision I saw Rau take an opening in the rush hour traffic and blow by me. **Damn you le Creuset! You're cheating again!** She was now at my side.

"Athrun! What are you doing in that…. That outfit? And on that motorcycle?" She demanded like she was one of my parents.

"Leather protects you should you wreck, and it's fun Lacus—you should try it sometime." I flipped the visor on my helmet down and stretched over the gas tank to grab the handlebars.

"Athrun!"

"Sorry, got to go" **I was gone the moment you signed your name on that letter Lacus; I won't be yours or anyone else's lapdog ever again.** I swerved into traffic and torqued it, causing some posh luxury car come to a screeching halt. **Screw you**, I was more focused with catching Rau who I could see already had a four block lead on me, and was darting through traffic like a frenzied madman. The race was on, and I was gone.

'_Cause I'm already gone_

_Yes, I'm already gone_

_Already gone_


End file.
